


No.23 Don't Look

by LiGi



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [23]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Caring Merlin (Merlin), FebuWhump2021, Gen, Hurt Leon (Merlin), Stitches, accidental injury, caring knights, don't look, no 23, physician Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29696484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiGi/pseuds/LiGi
Summary: Febuwhump 2021 day 23 - "Don't look."Leon is accidentally injured during training and has to have stitches.
Relationships: Knights of the Round Table & Leon (Merlin), Lancelot & Leon (Merlin), Leon & Merlin (Merlin), Leon & Percival (Merlin)
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137632
Comments: 8
Kudos: 62





	No.23 Don't Look

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by Onehelluvapilot, go and read her febuwhumps too, they are great!

Leon dropped his sword with a short yelp as Percival’s blade bit into his arm. A fraction of a second later Percival had dropped his own sword as well and had a firm grip on Leon’s non-injured arm.

“I’m sorry, Leon!”

His face looked stricken and he ever so gently pulled Leon’s arm towards himself to look at the cut.

“No, Percival, it was my fault,” Leon told him, looking down at the blood seeping through his grey shirt.

It _was_ his fault; he’d raised his arm into Percival’s swing, trying to catch the flat of the blade with his elbow and force it away from his face. It was a move he had performed many a time and it worked exceedingly well when his elbow was protected by couter and chainmail.

But today was a rather hot day however, so the knights had been training in just shirts. And where Percival’s sword would have slid off of Leon’s chainmail, without the armour it instead sliced into his bicep.

He hissed as Percival rolled his sleeve up.

“Oh, it looks deep,” the big knight said in distress.

The others had all noticed now and hurried over. Arthur pulled Leon closer to have a look and Lancelot put a hand under his elbow to support him.

“It’ll need stitches,” Arthur said grimly. “You’ll have to go up to Gaius.”

Leon sighed; he hated stitches. But Arthur was right; it was too deep to leave it untended. Elyan handed over a wad of cloth and Arthur pressed it firmly to the wound.

“I’ll take you to Gaius’s,” Lancelot offered.

“No, I’m fine. I can manage,” Leon protested, not wanting to be fussed over like an invalid. He pulled the cloth from Arthur’s hand and held it himself against his arm. “You all carry on, I’ll be back down as soon as Gaius has sewn me up.” He attempted a grin but it was probably more of a grimace.

“Are you sure, Leon?” Arthur asked sincerely, his blue eyes boring into Leon’s.

“Yes, Sire, I’ll manage. Seriously, Lancelot, I’m fine,” he added when the other knight made to argue. “Thank you, but I’ll be alright.”

Percival didn’t seem to want to let go of his arm but after clapping Leon on the back, Arthur called them back to training. Gwaine threw an arm around Percival’s waist, tugging him into his side.

“Come on, big man, see if we can get through the rest of the day without you mutilating anyone else,” he joked. Percival frowned, watching Leon even as Gwaine dragged him away.

“I’m really sorry,” he said again.

“Don’t worry, Percival, I’m fine.”

“I’ll come up and find you after practice,” Lancelot promised.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Leon huffed and ignored the way Lancelot raised his eyebrow in scepticism.

Lancelot gave his other arm a squeeze then Leon turned and began making his way back up to the palace. Once he was in the courtyard and out of sight of the other knights, he pulled the cloth away from his arm and had a better look at the wound. It was deep, and still bleeding profusely, but the edges were clean and straight and it looked like it would be simple enough to sew.

He staggered a little as he got to the steps up to the physician’s chambers, but just about made it up without falling over. He had to stop and lean against the wall once he was at the top of the stairs, his head swimming. Trying to get control of his feet, even though his dizzy head was not making it any easier, he stumbled towards Gaius’s door and knocked, lifting the latch and wobbling through when he heard a shout of “yeah?” from inside.

Merlin jumped up from the desk where he’d been sitting reading, slamming his book shut and stuffing it underneath a pile of parchment.

“Leon? What happened?”

“I forgot I wasn’t wearing my mail,” he said wryly, swaying slightly and leaning back against the door. “I don’t suppose Gaius is around?”

“He’s tending to the king,” Merlin said with a hopeless sort of twist to his lips.

“Ah…”

He tried to concentrate on the room in front of him, but it seemed to be spinning.

“Whoa, are you alright?” Merlin hurried over, putting a steadying hand on Leon’s back and guiding him over to the little cot Gaius had set up for patients. “I’m surprised Arthur didn’t send someone up with you to make sure you got here without falling flat on your face.”

He pushed him down and Leon sat with a bump, shaking his head to try and rid it of the woozy feeling. Sitting down was certainly helping.

“I didn’t need help; I managed.”

Merlin had obviously been practicing the look he gave Leon; he looked just like Gaius with that one eyebrow raised. And he tutted just like the old physician as well.

“Here, let me look.”

Kneeling beside the cot and taking the cloth from Leon’s hand, Merlin peeled it away from his arm. He hissed when he saw the wound, dabbing carefully at it with the cloth.

“That will need stitching back up,” he said, biting his lip.

“’S’what Arthur said.” Leon nodded.

“Oh,” Merlin said with a chuckle. “He does know some things then.” He bit his lip again. “I can go and fetch Gaius?”

“Not if he is with the king. The king needs him more than I do.” Uther hadn’t been the same since Lady Morgana had turned on them. He hadn’t said anything about what had happened when he’d been chained up in his own dungeons, but Gaius suspected he had been tortured. Tortured so severely his mind had been damaged.

“Can _you_ …?” Leon asked, gesturing to Merlin and then to his wounded arm.

Merlin shrugged, but jumped up and started collecting things from Gaius’s bench.

“I’ve never – Gaius has showed me how and I’ve watched him do it so many times – but I’ve never done it…”

As he spoke he put a needle, silk thread, a pair of scissors, bowl of water, and a clean cloth down on the stool beside the cot. So far, he seemed proficient enough in his knowledge. He also passed Leon a cup of something that smelt rather like rose bathwater, indicating that he drink it, while he washed his hands in a basin by the window.

“I think you would do it well, Merlin,” Leon said, looking up at the servant over the rim of the cup. It tasted very like rose bathwater as well, but the dizziness seemed to ease a little.

“I am quite good at sewing,” Merlin said with a smile, kneeling down again and beginning to thread the needle. “You’ve seen my needlework on Arthur’s shirts! Did you notice there was a mended rip all the way down the side of his shirt today?”

“No?” Leon screwed his eyes up, trying to make his foggy mind remember what Arthur was wearing.

“Aha, that’s because of my fine stitching!” Merlin grinned at him. Leon smiled back, not wanting to tell Merlin that he probably wouldn’t have noticed anyway. “I was taught by the best.”

“Gwen?” Leon guessed, as she was certainly the best seamstress he knew of.

“Exactly.” Merlin dipped the cloth in the water he had brought over, wiping the blood from around the wound on Leon’s arm. “Now, are you sure you don’t want me to get Gaius instead?”

“I trust you.”

Merlin beamed. “Alright. Look away and just try to keep as still as possible.”

Leon gritted his teeth and turned his head away, watching a bunch of lavender that was hanging from the ceiling slowly swaying in the breeze from the window. A sharp stab made him wince and squint down at his arm; Merlin had begun stitching, the needle and thread tugging at the edge of the wound. With a hiss of pain, he looked away again, muttering curses under his breath.

“Sorry,” Merlin whispered, intent on his work.

A few more painful stabs and tugs later, Leon turned to look again. He was impressed with the efficiency of Merlin’s work, the steady care he was taking reminding Leon of a real physician. The stitches were tiny and very neat.

“Leon.” Merlin looked up at him then gently pushed Leon’s cheek to turn his head away. “Don’t look.”

“But –” Leon started to protest, trying to see his arm again but Merlin cut him off with a raised hand.

“No, I can’t concentrate if you’re looking. You’re putting me off my embroidery.” He gave him a silly smile before his face settled back into the determined expression, a little crease between his eyebrows. “Don’t look.”

Leon let his gaze roam over the bookshelf as Merlin continued, resisting the urge to look back every time he felt the slack on the thread as Merlin stopped pulling each stitch. He almost wished he was still dizzy, as at least then he would be focussing all of his attention on trying to stay upright rather than on the stinging aching pain of his arm.

After what felt like hours, but surely hadn’t been, Merlin gave one final tug that made Leon gasp, and snipped the end of the thread off.

“There we are!” Merlin said proudly. “You can look now.”

Leon lifted his elbow to get a better look at the wound. It was closed up with the nicest stitches Leon had ever seen – dare he say even better than Gaius’s.

“Thank you, Merlin.” He gave him a clap on the back before letting his hand catch in Merlin’s hair to ruffle it.

“You’re welcome. Let me just get some honey and I’ll bandage it.”

He got back to his feet, a bounce in his step as he went over to Gaius’s workbench again. He had a satisfied grin on his face, and Leon found himself mirroring it with a proud smile of his own.

There was a knock at the door as Merlin came back over with the honey and then Lancelot poked his head around the door.

“You got here alright, then?” he asked, coming in, followed by Percival who was still looking guilty and sheepish.

“Only just,” Merlin said, rolling his eyes. “Nearly fell on his face when he got here.”

Lancelot gave Leon a look, which Leon chose to ignore.

“Is Gaius not here?” Percival asked quietly, worry breaking over his face.

“No, but Merlin stitched it.”

He held his arm up to show off the neat stitches.

“Not too bad, is it?” Merlin said, wiping the edge of the wound with the cloth again, catching a small bead of blood. “I was tempted to embroider my name so everyone would know who stitched him up so beautifully.”

Lancelot laughed. “Save that for when you need to sew up Arthur.”

Merlin grinned wickedly. He spread honey over the top of the stitches then wrapped a bandage around Leon’s bicep, Lancelot holding it so he could tie the ends.

“All done,” he said, patting Leon’s hand.

“Thank you, Merlin.”

Leon stood and was immediately pulled into a tight hug by Percival.

“I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t worry, Percival, it happens,” he said after returning the tight hug, his hand coming up to cup the back of Percival’s neck briefly. “And luckily, we’ve got a very talented embroiderer here to take care of us.”

Merlin beamed.

**Author's Note:**

> I love any and all comments!


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